Museum of Technology HEIM

The Site

How does a farming hamlet grow into an industrial town? The Educational Industrial Museum in Hengelo will give you the answer. Its theme is the industrial development of the town of Hengelo in the west of the Netherlands during the last 150 years. The museum starts with an exhibition of textile machines and a metal processing workshop dating back to around 1900. A steam engine and a range of diesel and electric motors from the 1930s onwards then show how, in the course of time, local firms concentrated more and more on mechanical engineering and motor construction. Several generations of radar devices are of outstanding importance for this is a branch of industry which still flourishes in Hengelo, as is the model of a Dutch infrared satellite. A selection of the museum’s technical equipment is regularly put into operation. For children and young people there is a range of interactive electric models which demonstrate various processes from the areas of mechanics, electrical engineering and natural sciences. In march 2006 the museum has moved into the former works buildings of the Koninklijke Machinefabriek Stork.